Saturday's clash between A-League Men's strugglers Western Sydney and Brisbane looms as a trip to the competition's last-chance saloon for both clubs.
With seven games remaining in their respective campaigns, both teams are eight points outside the finals positions and needing an unlikely set of results to make the playoffs.
The Roar at least gave themselves some hope with a 2-0 win over Newcastle last weekend, ending a three-game losing run and moving above the Wanderers into 10th on the ladder.
Roar coach Warren Moon knows achieving a top six finish is highly unlikely but isn't running up a white flag just yet.
"Every game for us now is like a final. We need to treat it that way," Moon said.
"We don't give up on anything, and we certainly don't concede anything, but we know our chances of finals are extremely difficult from here.
"We won't concede and we certainly won't lie down.
"There's bigger things at play here for us as a club. We're exposing a lot of good young players here and players are playing for their careers and contracts.
"Whilst we're not conceding anything, there should be enough motivation for us there to go and get a performance and try and get three points."
The Wanderers meanwhile are facing a fifth-straight season without finals football after a 3-2 derby loss to Sydney FC left them second-last on the ladder.
That defeat means the Wanderers haven't had a win in their past three matches but coach Mark Rudan, like his Roar counterpart, is not yet willing to throw in the towel on the 2021-22 campaign.
"The boys understand the position that we're in," Rudan said.
"It's important at this level, results do matter ... the behaviours always have to remain consistent, the attitude has to remain consistent, but so do the results.
"That's something we don't talk too much about but the players understand the predicament we're in.
"We still believe we can make a charge and that's the most important thing."
